Made from 19-year-old vines planted in the Hyde Vineyard as well as the Hyde selection of the Old Wente clone, the 2012 Chardonnay Clare is a small cuvée of 630 cases that saw 52% new French oak. It exhibits a light straw color with a greenish hue along with notes of crème brûlée, caramelized citrus, mango and pineapple, good underlying acidity, and a broad, intense, thick style. Drink it over the next decade. - Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Intense, wonderfully concentrated and bursting with youthful vitality, this benchmark bottling sourced from the Hyde Vineyard hits all the right marks. It is long on deep, incisively focused fruit that is matched step for step by beautifully proportioned oak, and it has the impeccable structure and balance of a Chardonnay that is destined to improve for years. It is, in fact, a wine that is simply too young for drinking anytime soon, and we strongly urge those who are fortunate enough to find a bottle or two to exercise patience and set it aside for at least two or three years. It will not disappoint.